So the Braves figured why not make a huge request and asked for a young arm plus Michael Conforto. The Mets took the “young arm” to mean someone from their current rotation, such as Jacob deGrom or Steve Matz.

The Mets love Simmons’ defense — like every team — but not enough to accept an offer they had to refuse.

The Braves preferred not to trade Simmons within the division anyway. So they dealt him to the Angels for Erick Aybar (who will become Atlanta’s shortstop), $2.5 million to offset Aybar’s $8.5 million down to the same $6 million Simmons is due in 2015, plus arguably the Angels’ two best prospects, lefty Sean Newcomb and righty Chris Ellis. Besides Simmons, the Angels received minor league catcher Jose Briceno.

The Mets entered these proceedings late, after news had swept the now-concluded General Managers’ meetings that Simmons was available. Mets assistant GM John Ricco spoke with Braves GM John Coppolella Thursday morning as most executives were beginning to head for home from the meetings.

“It is going to take something substantial [to get Simmons],” Ricco said. “We would have to find out if it can be done without us moving our big four [deGrom, Matt Harvey, Matz or Noah Syndergaard]. The fact we are in the same division might be a factor, too.”

The Mets did not want to disrupt the strength of their team, especially because they have concerns about Simmons’ bat. By the way, so do the Braves, which is one of the reasons they made available a guy who won the Defensive Player of the Year award Wednesday.

The Mets have made it clear: Unless they feel it is a no-brainer move, they are not trading one of the young starters from their rotation. Meanwhile, Atlanta continues to try to assemble a future rotation that might look like the current fireballing one of the Mets.

The Braves, in rebuild mode, wanted to capitalize on a weak free-agent market. Ian Desmond is by far the best shortstop available in free agency, and he is coming off a poor season and his erratic defense leaves questions whether he can stay at the position long-term.

The Braves move to a new stadium in 2017, and the Simmons deal fits into a pattern begun last year when they traded Jason Heyward, Craig Kimbrel, Justin Upton, Melvin Upton and Chris Johnson to gain financial flexibility for 2017 and/or stockpile prospects — namely pitching prospects.

There were questions about Newcomb’s makeup and control when the Angels made him the 15th pick in 2014. The Braves believe the lefty has top-of-the-rotation abilities, as do four other pitchers obtained in the last year via trade or the draft — Shelby Miller, who was in Atlanta’s rotation last year, plus Touki Toussaint, Max Fried and Kolby Allard.

Atlanta also has the third pick in June’s draft, and they are hoping that a combination of a lot of young talent and money will allow them to have a contender as early as 2017.

Simmons, 26, has five years at $53 million left on a contract that goes through 2020 and represents the first big move by new Angels GM Billy Eppler, who previously had been the Yankees’ assistant GM.

Eppler’s philosophy is that he wants players who are exceptional at something — like Simmons is on defense — rather than a player who is in the majors because he has cobbled together a bunch of good skills.

There are questions if Simmons and his long swing can make the necessary adjustments to capitalize on the promise he showed in his first full season, 2013, when he hit 17 homers. The results have not been nearly as good since.

Still, the defense was good enough to move the Angels and Eppler to give up two of their best prospects. It was not good enough to make the Mets break up their strength or even consider trading Conforto.